Sunday, 15 April 2007

Roubaix triumph...

I don't really wish to blow my own trumpet about the accuracy of my prediction for the outcome of Paris-Roubaix, so I'll let this report from the Eurosport website do it for me!

"Former track star Stuart O'Grady claimed the biggest road victory of his career on Roubaix's velodrome becoming the first Australian to win the Paris-Roubaix classic.

The former Olympic and world champion on the track stunned the race favourites, counter-attacking with 24 kilometres left to ride after his chase group caught race-leading duo Kevin Van Impe and David Kopp.

The 33-year-old O'Grady then took a solo victory on the last of the 28 cobbled sectors in the 259-kilometre long Hell of the North, barely able to withhold his emotions as he entered the velodrome and got off of his bike after crossing the line in victory.

Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) beat former Tour of Flanders victor Steffen Wesemann for second-place in a final sprint, as race favourite and 2005 winner Tom Boonen was relegated to sixth.

After Cancellara and the retiring Danish CSC rider Lars Michaelsen crossed the line together in the second chase group, the two men embraced their victorious team-mate in the finish area and Michaelsen broke into tears."

That's enough cycling for now, and once I finish the batch of reviews I'm currently working flat-out on, more jazz will follow...